Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Jang Song Thaek, the uncle and de
facto deputy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is safe even as
it appears he has been removed from his post, a South Korean
minister said.

Jang, a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission
led by Kim, remains physically unharmed, Unification Minister
Ryoo Kihl Jae told a parliamentary hearing today in Seoul, local
television networks reported. The Unification Ministry later
confirmed the remarks.

“Purges are continuing in North Korea,” Ryoo told
lawmakers, without saying how he obtained the information.

The removal of Jang, which would be the highest-level
dismissal since Kim took power two years ago, may indicate that
Kim is still trying to solidify his grip on power by dismissing
officials who gained prominence under his father Kim Jong Il. In
October, Kim replaced his chief of general staff for a third
time since taking over the North’s 1.2 million-strong army after
his father died of a heart attack in 2011.

Jang hasn’t been seen since the public execution of two of
his confidants last month, South Korea opposition lawmaker Jung
Cheong Rae said by phone yesterday, citing the South’s National
Intelligence Service. Ruling party lawmaker Cho Won Jin said at
a televised briefing that the purge followed a corruption
investigation. Both Jung and Cho serve on South Korea’s
parliament intelligence committee. The NIS declined to comment
on Jang yesterday when a call was made to its main phone number.

“This could be a sign there’s a problem with Kim Jong Un’s
grip on power,” Ahn Chan Il, who heads the World Institute for
North Korea Studies in Seoul, said by phone. “I suspect there
is a stability issue in the regime.”

Solidifying Transition

Jang, who married Kim Jong Un’s aunt Kim Kyong Hui in 1972,
was named to the post in June 2010 by Kim Jong Il.

North Korea is “conducting follow-up measures” against
organizations affiliated with Jang, lawmaker Cho said. The
government is mounting a campaign for “absolute loyalty” to
Kim, he said.

During Kim Jong Il’s rule, the National Defense Commission
was regarded as North Korea’s most powerful institution, and
remains more important than both the nation’s defense agency and
the ruling Korean Workers’ Party. Jang walked directly behind
Kim Jong Un at his father’s funeral.

Kim’s Warning

“Kim is warning the public with the executions, and it can
only mean he’s feeling insecure about his power,” Lee Ji Sue, a
professor of North Korean studies at Myongji University in
Seoul, said by phone. “Kim just didn’t have enough time to
build his own power base before his father died, and the
economic situation right now just doesn’t help.”

Jang, one of the country’s leading economic policy makers
who visited China in August last year, was reported by South
Korean newspapers to have been demoted in 2004 for cultivating
too much influence. He was brought back to power in 2006 to head
the Workers’ Party’s administrative department, overseeing the
intelligence agency and other military institutions.

The disappearance of a senior official instrumental to Kim
Jong Un’s succession isn’t unprecedented. In 2012, North Korea’s
official Korean Central News Agency said that Ri Yong Ho, the
general staff chief, had been removed from all posts, while all
traces of his presence were eliminated from official footage and
photos. KCNA gave no clear reason for the decision.

KCNA last reported on Jang in early November.

Corruption Investigation

A corruption investigation into Jang’s allies may have been
led by Choe Ryong Hae, North Korea’s top political military
officer, as a result of a power struggle, and may actually show
Kim’s strength, Cheong Seong Chang, a researcher at the
Seongnam-based Sejong Institute, said in an e-mail.

“The executions and Jang’s removal from posts show Kim
Jong Un’s power is very solid at the moment,” Cheong said. “I
expect the race for loyalty will heat up in the ruling circle in
the future.”

North Korea’s relations with the outside world have dimmed
under Kim, as the country tested its third atomic device in
February and threatened nuclear strikes against South Korea and
the U.S. On Nov. 6, North Korea rejected the idea of a summit
after South Korean President Park Geun Hye said she was willing
to meet Kim if it led to concrete results.

The two Koreas remain technically in conflict after the
1950-53 Korean War ended without a formal peace treaty.

“Instability with Kim’s grip on power will continue, and
he may try to ride it out by creating a military crisis with the
outside world,” Myongji University’s Lee said. “With no aid
and no dialogue, the crisis for the ruling class continues to
deepen.”